Ex-minister Gawande convicted of assaulting govt officer

A court in Maharashtra's Akola district on Tuesday sentenced former state minister Gulabrao Gawande to three months' imprisonment for assaulting a government servant.

Sessions court judge Manish Ganorkar also imposed a fine of Rs 2,500 on Gawande, a former MLA from Akot in the district.

Gawande was accused of getting into an altercation with an official of the Public Works Department over the quality of road construction work and assaulting him six years ago.

He was charged under IPC section 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty).

The court acquitted another accused, former MLA Gajanan Dalu, from the case.

Gawande's lawyers said they would file an appeal and seek bail for their client. He has not been arrested yet.

Manoj Bais, then deputy engineer with PWD, had filed a complaint that on May 31, 2013, Gawande and his supporters manhandled him, alleging that the quality of the construction of road between Balegaon and Akola was not good.

Eight witnesses were examined during the trial, said Prosecutor Ajit Deshmukh.

Gawande was a minister of state in the Shiv Sena-BJP government during 1995 to 1998. He is currently with the Nationalist Congress Party.